U.S. Teams Sweep Gold, Silver Medals

CHULA VISTA, Calif. (Oct. 6, 2013) – U.S. teams ran the table on Sunday at the NORCECA Beach Circuit event at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, sweeping gold and silver medals in both the men’s and women’s brackets.

The victory was the second straight NORCECA title for Carico, who also won on Sept. 22 in Puerto Rico with Sara Hughes. Carico and Heather Hughes went 5-0 in matches in Chula Vista and 10-0 in sets. Carico said the team got better throughout the tournament.

“I think we kept our game totally consistent at the end whereas at the beginning it was up-and-down,” Carico said.

“It definitely gives us confidence,” Hughes added. “It gives us a boost for St. Lucia where we are going next week.”

“I’m hoping to finish the year strong and playing well with Theo,” Lucena said. “Theo has only been playing a couple months and he’s getting better every tournament. This is a good tournament for us because we’ve had two bad tournaments in a row.”

After Brunner and Lucena won the first set, they fell behind Bourne and Hyden in the second set, 10-3 and went on to lose 21-17.

“I figured it would go three. We didn’t play well in the second set and they made a lot of plays,” Lucena said. “We just got lucky in the third set, to tell you the truth. They’re a good team.”